Give the Girl Jesus

by Rebecca Kiser If your family is anything like mine, you go around the table at Thanksgiving dinner and everyone tells something they are thankful for. People express their gratitude for things like family, their job, their health, or if you’re my brother, the food. But what you’re unlikely to hear is anyone say they’re thankful for the bad times they had this year. The times they were struggling and the times they doubted they were going to make it through. The times they were weak. It’s easy for us to be thankful when things are good, when we make it to the mountain tops. But you’d be hard pressed to find someone who wants to give thanks for the valleys. While the mountain tops are beautiful times for us, they are not where we grow.  From my own experiences, I see that every time God did amazing work in my heart it was during a hard time. I tend to get a little bit cocky on the mountain tops. At first, I see God’s hand in the situation and am thankful to Him for it, b...

By Rebecca Kiser Me: “Hi I’m Becca and I’m bad at prayer.” Christian Support Group: “Hiiiiiiii Becca.” So, you would think having gone to Christian school for the first seven years of my education I would have a pretty good working knowledge of how to pray and be super comfortable with it. No dice. Can I get real honest with you guys for a second? I don’t like praying. It does not come naturally to me. I love to turn to my Bible when I’m struggling. I find so much comfort in the promises God has for me there, and I find strength in the testimonies of other Christians like Paul and David. I whisper, “Jesus” randomly throughout the day, and recite those foundational verses in those rough moments, so yes that’s prayer. But as far as sitting down and talking to God, telling him about my life and problems, praising him, asking for his presence in situations, I really struggle. When I pray out loud it feels like I’m talking to the air, like no one is listening. When ...

by Rebecca Kiser A couple of weeks ago, I heard a pastor speak a message about the wise man who built his house on the rock. Now, having grown up in church, church school, and church camp I have heard this story several times. I’ve seen Sunday school teachers use the little felt Jesus on the felt board to explain the story, and I’ve got that song memorized. It’s one of those classic Bible stories. But the problem with growing up in church is that I know stories like this one in and out, but they don’t always reach my heart. When I heard this story most recently though, I saw myself as the house. Lately I’ve felt shaken. I am consumed with panic and worry over this in-between time in my life. Now you should know I am a poster child “Type A” person. I like things to be predetermined, organized, color-coded, and predictable. When it comes to uncertainty, I’m not a fan. Right now, it seems like everything is uncertain. Most of my friends just moved off to school, things are cha...

by Anonymous As a child I was OBSESSED with princesses and all the romantic stories that went with them. I loved how pretty and kind they were, and that they always got their “Prince Charming” at the end of the story. So when my Prince Charming turned out to be a lanky soccer player from church who also was my best friend, I was head over heels. Not only was this guy athletic and handsome, he also proclaimed to be a Christian which made him perfect in my eyes. In the midst of being completely in love with this guy, I took my focus off of God which made me blind to the events that would come to pass. It started off slow with a minor faux pas that I quickly forgave into this mountain of regret, depression, anger, and lies.  “I just think that we need to spend a little time not talking to each other, so that we can get back on the right path with God.” Harmless right? One would say even encouraging. I had already felt guilty beforehand about how fast our relationship ...

by Rebecca Kiser In Japan, it is common practice for a potter to repair a broken piece of pottery with resin made of gold. These items are worth more than the originals, indirectly, because they have been broken. It is a special form of art that is meant to utilize and glorify the cracks, missing shards, and imperfections of the pottery. This ancient practice is known as Kintsugi or “golden repair”, and its pieces can be found all over the world in prestigious art museums, and are considered priceless. I find this really interesting not only because of the symbolism of something being more valuable because it’s been broken, but because of the potter. The first one to do this saw potential, worth, in shards of broken pottery sprawled lifelessly across the dirt-ridden ground.  When anyone else would have swept up the pieces and thrown them out with the rest of the trash, this potter took care to meticulously gather up every last bit. He invested time, love, and valuable re...